Sending more troops not a solution to armed conflict in hinterlands
For retired Commodore Mariano Sontillanosa, sending more troops to the hinterlands in order to contain the insurgency problem is not a solution to the armed conflict between the government and the New People's Army (NPA) rebels.
Sontillanosa said giving solutions to the "economic problems" of the aggrieved party is the best way to address the problem. The problem could be resolved by providing the people specifically in the hinterlands a livelihood program, he said.
The deployment of government forces, military or police, will not contain the problem, Sontillanosa added. The problem must be resolved first in the grassroots level.
Sontillanosa said giving the people alternative work to feed himself and his family and instituting corrective measures will eventually solve the problem. Some of the insurgents have been victims of atrocities in the past. The economy should be coupled with social justice, he added.
Sontillanosa, who hails from the town of Sta. Barbara, was part of the group that went to Iloilo for a seminar-workshop dubbed as The Environmental Security on Tourism (TEST), a project spearheaded by Department of Tourism Undersecretary for Security and Political Affairs Salvador Sarabia Jr.
Sontillanosa represented the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP). NDCP, Haribon Foundation Inc, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Department of Interior Local Government (DILG) are the cooperating agencies in the TEST project.